Hi, Tallulah (Vizsla) is now 18 months old, and we still think she is a little timid and would like to make her more confident.  we have socialised her from an early age and she had dog friends on our local park and then we took her to classes when she was 6 months (in retrospect we now this should have been earlier) and we do try and introduce her to as many situations as possible, other animals children noises etc etc..but she is still easily spooked..for example we were walkng this morning and there was a lady with a little dog walking towards us, the lady picked up her dog as she thought it would be scared by tally..?..Tally then sat down and refused to budge and was obviously unnerved, I do think that by this age she shouldnt be so scared.. I have read somewhere that a possible would be to start playing tog of war games and let her win will increase confidence..but was wondering if there is anything else that we could do to help her out a bit, Thank you beautiful people, kelliex

im not really up on the temperment of vizslas,so my advice is just general!
tuggy games wont give her more confidence,BUT could be useful in situations like youve described to take her mind off of the situation & to stop her worrying.
you would need to get her very keen on her tuggy inside though because if shes not really into it & then you try to use it outside she probaley wont want to know.

mine all know the gam e "ragger" & know what to do. sometimes i win sometimes they do. i have no dominance problems with my dogs by letting them win sometimes.....most of the time! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!;)

we never played tuggy games as we had read that it could lead to dominance issues..so we never taught her!!..thats the thing..we are wondering if it is worth teaching her a new game?..or if not..what can we do..hoping it will help too with fireworks as she is really scared (lots at new year!)...we are going to get one of those Cds tho and have regular bonfire nights in our living room, to get her used to it in relaxed surroundings

i do not believe it leads to dominance problems!
its worth teaching new things to anydog.throughout its life
if they are really keen on "ragging" its a great distraction. depends on the dog though,one of mine isnt that bothered about it at all

Hi Kellie, as you know we have 2 smooth girls and we are due to get our wire pup in a few weeks. I'd say our older girl lacks confidence occassionally, one of the reasons I took her out of the ring was that she hated the noisy,crowded atmosphere at shows, she especially hates the bench and will hide under a blanket if poss. We took her to socialisation/training classes from about 3 months and she used to have quite a few doggy friends that she played with. However, she was chased and scared but a few bigger, nasty dogs when she was around a year old and now she is very picky with the dogs she actually tolerates, mostly if they get too close they get a warning snap, and she sits so they can't sniff her bum! She will tolerate Kayla most of the time... :)
Kayla is a different kettle of fish, she is bubbling with confidence tho she is submissive to alot of the dogs she meets-she 'flirts' like mad after that especially with male GSPs, a Mal that goes to ringcraft and of course vizslas! We didn't take her to classes(she started ringcraft in October tho and loves it), just a puppy party where she spend most of the time hiding from the other puppies, some where bigger but most where the same size or smaller. She only decided to come out and play when most of the puppies had gone home and there was 1/2 left. This worried me, I thought she would always be like that but she has matured(almost, at 2.5!!)in a confident young lady who does what she can to please me. Pointo to note-Kayla hasn't a clue how to play tug as we never allowed that in case she got too confident! Which she did anyway, a right little madam up until about 6 months ago!
Do you know a dog that she will play with? This might increase her confidence, especially if you 'join' in with a toy maybe-does she seek you out when she is scared?
That's all th advice I can offer, Chloe is quite a nervy dog-she starts shaking if there is even a hind of raised voices or angst in the house, even when it doesn't involve her, Kayla couldn't care less ;) Neither are bothered by fireworks but a car door closing can set them off in an evening, esp. if I'm on my own in the house.We just accept it, But I'd say Tally is still quite young and her confidence may increase with age.
Hope this helps a bit
Emily
PS whereabout are you?

Hi Emily

I am in Leeds!!! just noticed that you are in North Yorks! we are practically neighbours!!

Hi Kelliex,

I think that the best thing to do for a nervous dog is to ignore their nerves and treat them as you would a more confident animal.  Do not push them into doing something that really frightens them, but do not coddle them and try to comfort them either.  If you know you are going to run into a situation which is likely to unnerve Talluhah, try distracting her as you casually ease her through it.   Let's say she was frightened by the sound of big trucks, if you were walking her and you noticed a truck coming in your direction, take out her favourite toy or a food treat and get her interested in that before the truck gets close enough for her to take fright. 

The other thing to recognize is that there is a spectrum of temperament in any breed or mix.  I have two extremes myself, two Cairn terriers.  My bitch, Abby, is very laid back, loves all people, all other dogs, loud or sudden noises do not bother her, and anything and everything in the world interests her.   My dog, Rudi, is the exact opposite.  He is very sensitive and a complete coward.   He is frightened of loud, sharp or sudden noises (except thunder or fireworks, for some reason.)  I took the two for a walk a couple of days ago when the rubbish truck was on the street, Rudi tried to hide under the hedge when he heard the truck.  On the way back, we passed the truck again when the rubbish was being moved from the back loader into the truck body .. so another loud and strange noise.  Abby looked at it and wagged her tail and tried to drag me closer.  Rudi slunk down and tried to drag me away as fast as his shaking body could move.  And if something frightens Rudi once, he never forgets.  A while ago I stupidly teased him by chasing him with my pond net as I was removing leaves, thinking he would attack it and have a game.  Instead, he was afraid.  Weeks later I used the net again, Rudi was in the garden, after a while I could not find him -- and found him crouched down and shaking at the back door to my house.  Christmas we brought the two dogs to my sister-in-law's house.  A balloon burst near Rudi, he shook and tried to hide, I had to bring his crate into the house, he stayed in it for a long time and for the entire day never fully recovered and would never leave that one room.  When the balloon burst Abby ran to try to find it to eat it :-) and she spent the entire day like a little social butterfly, mingling with everyone and getting fed all sorts of things she probably should not eat.

Rudi is almost two years old and I've only had him for four months.   However, I got him from a very caring breeder and I am absolutely sure he was never mistreated.   He just has a nervous temperament.   I can work around it, but I can not change it.  That said, he is a very affectionate and loving dog. He loves all people and is great with children.  He also tolerates Abby, who is an incredible nag!    It pains me to see him so frightened of nothing .. and I too wish I could change it.  If he is scolded he is absolutely crushed, so I try never to scold him.  Sometimes Rudi will growl and bark and other dogs, especially big or overfriendly ones, it hurts me to see their owners look at me like I have some sort of a monster at the other end of the leash .. when I know Rudi is acting tough because he is scared. 

Bottom line is do all you can to build Tallulah's confidence gradually. Obedience training can also help.  It's not just that the dog learns and is praised, but it can also a act as a positive distraction when a dog is in an uncomfortable situation.  18 months is about the time she is moving into adulthood and it can be a particularly difficult time for some, so definitely do not try to force her beyond where she is comfortable. 

Best of luck with Tallulah.

Stacey

Hi thanks for your thoughts, we are trying to get her into an agility class at the mo as something different that she might enjoy.  at the moment we ignore anything like fireworks as she looks to us for comfort and we didnt want to highlight it as something that she should be scared of.  she does play with dogs in the park and has a few dog friends, she is more timid of their owners..hoping her confidence will increase with age maybe..

if she likes her food,take some titbits outr with you,& give them to people you mneet to give to her

When you say 'lacking in confidence' do you mean shy?  Or reluctant to try new things?  As these are both rather different problems.......  for a shy dog, I'd find out how close she's happy to have strangers, then take a step back so you are well within her comfort zone, and reward her for showing any interest in what they are doing.  Then slowly try and decrease the stage at which she gets unerved.  I wouldn't be pushing her to take treats from strangers, as this can lead to defensive behaviour if taken too quickly.

If she's not sure about new things or situations, then again, respect her 'comfort zone' and give her lots of opportunities to try something different, but with no penalties if it goes wrong.  Some dogs just get so hung up on the possiblity of getting it wrong, they loose the willingness to try to do anything.

HTH

Hi kellie
unfortunatly getting the balance right with a vizsla is hard work they are either over confident and causing a trail of distructuion every where they go or under confident.
the best way to buid confidents is through multi dog situatons but controlled ones so give either ring craft ,agility, obediance ,gundog traing ago and see how she gets on!! :)
kate